Glossary: e

Elisa Valle

Elisa Valle

Elisa Valle is a vocalist, singer/songwriter, guitarist, and pianist. Originally from Los Angeles, she began her musical journey at age 9 by joining a local choir. She enrolled in private voice lessons at age 16, and only one year later, began composing her own songs.

Elisa joins Cliburn in the Classroom as a bilingual host. She is also an instructor at Artes de la Rosa, where she teaches songwriting and leads the choir for K-12 students. You can see her students perform in Northside events such as the Dia de los Muertos Festival, the Christmas Parade, and various theater events hosted by Artes. Outside of classical music, Elisa’s most influential artists are Taylor Swift, Karol G, and Natalia Lafourcade.

Elisa’s teaching philosophy focuses on nurturing and supporting students in their artistic journey. She is deeply committed to using music as a means of self-expression and aims to inspire others to experience the same.

Eddison Chen

EDDISON CHEN

United States   I  13

“Classical Music is a genre that unites us all in an increasingly polarized and divisive world. We should use the ease of listening to it today to make more music for our generation. I hope to someday be able to make music of my own.”

Kansas City native Eddison Chen began taking home medals at national and international piano competitions when he was 8 years old, placing at the Chicago, Steinway, Kaufman Music Center (New York), and Music Teachers of North America, as well as the International Young Artist Competition in Washington, D.C. His grandmother was his original encouragement for starting lessons, and it wasn’t long before he was “writing random pieces of ‘music.’” He is currently studying with Steven Spooner of the Peabody Institute and 2013 Cliburn third-prize winner Sean Chen of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory. He applied for the Cliburn Junior hoping to gain valuable concert experience, to learn from great artists, and to meet new friends. He says the ultimate goal and motivation of all his piano studies is “to make music that is unlike most music of today,” and hopes to one day “compose a score from a story.” Outside of the piano, Eddison likes to play chess and study math; he’s involved in Math Club at his school and is a National MathCounts finalist. He also enjoys looking at maps and measuring distances between places in the world.

REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round

BACH  Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp Major, BWV 872
LIGETI  Etude No. 4 “Fanfares”
LISZT Mephisto Waltz No. 1

Quarterfinal Round

HAYDN Sonata in A-flat Major, Hob. XVI:46 (I)
CHOPIN Nocturne in D-flat Major, op. 27, no. 2
SCHUMANN Papillons, op. 2
GERSHWIN–WILD I Got Rhythm

Semifinal Round – Recital

RAVEL “Alborada del gracioso” from Miroirs
KURTÁG Selections from Játékok
LISZT Grandes études de Paganini

Final Round – Concerto 

RACHMANINOV Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, op. 43

 

JUNIOR COMPETITION LINKS
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Elizaveta Kliuchereva

Elizaveta Kliuchereva

Russia  I  Age 23

When she was 6, Elizaveta Kliuchereva—who was born in Moscow into a family of visual artists—was walking in the corridors of her art school and found a very old piano standing in the corner. She says: “From the moment I saw the piano and opened the keyboard, I realized that it is going to be my life, and I would not be able to live without music.”

She has since studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, and the Accademia Internazionale di Imola “Incontri col Maestro” with Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Arie Vardi, and Boris Petrushansky, respectively. Elizaveta is a prizewinner of more than 30 international piano competitions in the United Kingdom, China, Kazakhstan, Italy, Estonia, Russia, and France, and was a semifinalist at last year’s Leeds Competition.

Among her performance highlights are the Ukrainian Kharkiv Philharmonic, Central Music School at the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Hilton Head Symphony, National Philharmonic of Russia, St. Petersburg State Symphony, Prague Radio Symphony, Karaganda Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and New Mexico Philharmonic. She now comes to the Cliburn to realize a “real dream—to play in this hall and on this stage, where many genius pianists have played before.”

REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round

HOUGH Fanfare Toccata
FRANCK Prélude, Choral et Fugue
LISZT Rhapsodie espagnole

Quarterfinal Round

BACH–SILOTI Prelude in B Minor, BWV 855a
CHOPIN Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat Major, op. 61
DEBUSSY La plus que lente
DEBUSSY “Feux d’artifice” from Preludes, Book II
STRAUSS–GODOWSKY Symphonic Metamorphosis on Die Fledermaus

Semifinal Round – Recital

SCHUBERT Impromptus, D. 935, nos. 1 and 2
SCHUMANN Carnaval, op. 9
RACHMANINOV Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 36 (1931)

Semifinal Round – Mozart concerto

MOZART Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467

Final Round – Concerto I

LISZT Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S. 124

Final Round – Concerto II

RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, op. 30

CLIBURN COMPETITON LINKS

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EIJI YOSHIMURA

EIJI YOSHIMURA                                                        

AGE 50  I  TOKYO, JAPAN  I  JAPAN
BUSINESS PLANNING DIRECTOR

This 2022 Cliburn appearance marks the first time that Eiji Yoshimura will perform outside of Japan. A student of the piano from an early age, he’s been with his current teacher for 12 years, but has no formal music training. He graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Bachelor of Geophysics and initially worked as a system engineer. In 2009, he joined his current company, Avnet K.K, where he works in the distribution of semiconductors and electronic components, now as director of business planning. He spends his limited amount of non-work time at the piano. The 2011 winner of Tokyo’s amateur competition, Eiji comes to the Cliburn in hopes of sharing the “pleasure of music,” of “getting stimulation from excellent performances by other competitors,” and of confirming his love of piano music with new friends; he believe that “this is the best place for company with the same mind to come together.”

 

Repertoire

Preliminary Round

SCARLATTI Sonata in E Major, K. 531
CHOPIN Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 31

Semifinal Round 

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 21 in C Major, op. 53 (“Waldstein”) (I)
RAVEL “Oiseaux tristes” from Miroirs
STRAVINSKY–AGOSTI Three Movements from The Firebird

Final Round 

SCHUMANN Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 (I)

ELADIO SANTIAGO

ELADIO SANTIAGO                                                                      

AGE 58  I  WEST FRIENDSHIP, MARYLAND  I  UNITED STATES
PRESIDENT & CEO – ADVISORY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Eladio Santiago’s lifetime love of music is directly intertwined with his admiration for Van Cliburn. His first RCA album in the 1970s was Van’s groundbreaking recording Chopin’s Greatest Hits and the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2; he fell in love, very young, with the sweeping Romantic interpretations, and much of the repertoire he developed through the years was under that influence. He had the opportunity to meet Van Cliburn twice: first, backstage in the 90s, while studying with 1981 Cliburn Silver Medalist Santiago Rodriguez at the University of Maryland (where he earned a B.M. and M.M. in music); and again in 2004 at the Kennedy Center, after a career in Wall Street had taken him away from music—that encounter helped bring him to the piano with encouragement from his wife, a pianist and teacher. In 2018, he founded Strategic Investments Corp, an investment portfolio management and advisory firm where he serves as president & CEO.

 

Repertoire

Preliminary Round

RACHMANINOV Étude-tableau in E-flat Minor, op. 39, no. 5
DEBUSSY La plus que lente
PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, op. 83 (III)

Semifinal Round 

GLUCK–SGAMBATI “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” from Orfeo ed Euridice
SCRIABIN Etude in D-sharp Minor, op. 8, no. 12
RACHMANINOV Prelude in D Major, op. 23, no. 4
CHOPIN Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, op. 60
CHOPIN Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, op. 58 (IV)

Final Round 

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, op. 37 (I)

Eva Gevorgyan

Eva Gevorgyan
SHIRLEY COX MCINTYRE SECOND PRIZE WINNER

Russia / Armenia I Age 15

Eva Gevorgyan has received prizes in more than 40 international competitions for piano and composition—in the United States, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Malta, Kazakhstan, Poland, Czech Republic, Georgia, Russia, and Serbia. Born and raised in Moscow, she has studied with Natalia Trull at the Central Music School of the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, and has performed across Russia, Europe (including a Royal Albert Hall debut in April), and in the United States. She also receives a scholarship from the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein and participates regularly in its intensive music weeks and activities. In 2017, Eva performed in front of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, and she has taken part in a national television show for young talent, advancing to the final as the only pianist. Last year, she appeared on live television with Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked him about education reform. She likes composing, growing exotic plants, jogging, and playing table tennis.

“When I play, I hope people can hear words which I would never say in my real life. Being on stage at the Cliburn Junior Competition will charge me with energy and love for a long time forward.”

Competitor Profile

Repertoire

Preliminary Round
BACH Prelude and Fugue in F Major, BWV 880
LISZT Chasse-Neige from Transcendental Etudes
LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12, S. 244/12

Quarterfinal Round
BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 10 in G Major, op. 14, no. 2 (III)
RODRIGO “Seguidillas del diablo” from 4 Estampas andaluzas
CHOPIN Nocturne in C-sharp Minor, op, 27, no. 1
CHOPIN Polonaise in F-sharp Minor, op. 44
SAINT-SAËNS Étude en forme de valse, op. 52, no. 6

 

Semifinal Round
SCHUMANN Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, op. 22
BOLCOM Butterflies, hummingbirds from Twelve New Etudes, Book II
HINDEMITH Suite ‘1922’, op. 26

Final Round
RACHMANINOV Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, op. 43

ERIK T. TAWASTSTJERNA

Erik T. Tawaststjerna won the second prize at the Maj Lind piano competition in Helsinki in 1968 and has since given concerts around the world, including the first Finnish performance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety” in 1981. He has made numerous recordings, among them a series of eight recordings of the complete piano music of Jean Sibelius on the BIS label.

He began his musical education in Helsinki, took private lessons in Moscow, and graduated from the Vienna Music Academy, where he studied with Dieter Weber, as well as from The Juilliard School, where his teacher was Sascha Gorodnitzki. He also holds a doctorate from New York University, where he studied under the guidance of Eugene List. Mr. Tawaststjerna has taught since 1982 at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he was appointed full professor of piano in 1986. He was named “Professor of the Year” in 2006 by the Finnish Professors’ League.

Mr. Tawaststjerna has served on the juries of international piano competitions in London, Vienna, New York, St. Petersburg, Dublin, and Barcelona, among other cities, and has given master classes at, among other places, the Guildhall School of Music in London, University of the Arts in Berlin, Tokyo College of Music, and at the Vienna University for Music.

EunAe Lee

EunAe Lee

South Korea | Age 29

EunAe Lee, born in Seoul, made her solo debut at age 14, performing the Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under Bong Kim. She won a full scholarship to The Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division and completed the five-year accelerated bachelor’s and master’s degree program. She earned a professional studies diploma at the Mannes School of Music, studying with Richard Goode, and is now at Northwestern University with James Giles. Ms. Lee won second prize and the Yehuda Meir memorial award for outstanding performance of a Chopin etude at the 2015 Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Competition. She also won prizes at the 2014 Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the 2011 ARD International Music Competition in Munich, where she performed the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performance highlights include solo and chamber appearances at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, Merkin Hall, and the Mannes Concert Hall, among others. Away from the piano, Ms. Lee enjoys swimming, watching soccer games, and reading plays.

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COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Recital
HAYDN Sonata in B-flat Major, Hob. XVI:41
DEBUSSY Étude pour les arpèges composés
CHOPIN Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, op. 58
HAMELIN Toccata on “L’homme armé”

Quarterfinal Recital
SCARLATTI Sonata in G Minor, K. 426
SCARLATTI Sonata in G Major, K. 455
BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, op. 110
LISZT Sonetto 104 del Petrarca
LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 in C-sharp Minor

Semifinal Recital
WILD Hommage à Poulenc
BRAHMS Variations on a Theme by Handel, op. 24
RAVEL Sonatine
BARTÓK Sonata (1926)

Semifinal Concerto
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467

Final Round Piano Quintet
SCHUMANN Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, op. 44

Final Round Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, op. 23

 

Eberhard Zagrosek

Eberhard Zagrosek, 73
Retired physicist
Berlin, Germany
Germany

Eberhard Zagrosek, a retired physicist from Berlin, competed at the Cliburn Amateur in 2011. Growing up in Bavaria, he began playing piano at age 6, but gave up his musical pursuits for a career as a physicist. For nearly 30 years, Mr. Zagrosek worked in the electronics field, primarily for Siemens. Since his retirement in 1999, he has resumed piano lessons and has participated in amateur competitions in Colorado Springs, Colorado (second place), Washington, D.C. (second), and Boston (first). Mr. Zagrosek is the founder of an international piano competition in Berlin, which is supported by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In recent years, he has also organized festivals and over 60 recitals in Berlin, Munich, and Stuttgart as an impresario for amateur pianists.

COMPETITION REPERTOIRE

Preliminary Round
CHOPIN   Scherzo No. 1 in B Minor, op. 20

Quarterfinal Round
PROKOFIEV   Sonata No. 4 in C Minor, op. 29

Semifinal Round
CHOPIN   Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat Major, op. 61
LISZT   Variationen über ein Thema von Bach Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen

Final Round
BEETHOVEN   Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, op. 73: III. Rondo (allegro)